Force restart, no matter what

[qtrim]

I love my MacMini, but I find it infuriating when I use the normal commands to tell it to restart and it just hangs. I often have to get up and manually push the power button for five seconds. Is there some button combo that tells the OS to forget everything else and just restart?

 

[maflynn]

control + powerbutton I think is one option.

Another is the terminal command
sudo shutdown -r now

Tbh, I never do this, as I try to let the apps exit gracefully, i.e., I don't lose or corrupt my data.

 

[grahamperrin]

Command-Control-power button​

– that's similar in effect to holding down the power button for five seconds (forcing the Mac to power off). The combination of keys with the power button should force a restart.

If you're unlucky, it'll not restart. If this happens, force it off.

OS X: Keyboard shortcuts – Apple Support

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sudo shutdown -r now

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I think it's good practice to precede that type of thing with a run of sync(8).

… tell it to restart and it just hangs …

Have you posted details anywhere? (I couldn't see it amongst topics begun by you.)